500 Jobs To Be Cut at Bank of America Getzville Mortgage Facility

GETZVILLE, NY - Two On Your Side has learned that M&T Bank will take over control of the Bank of America Mortgage Services division in Getzville. Approximately 500 jobs are expected to be lost as part of the move.

According to the Buffalo News, an estimated 1,200 people work at the facility located in the Crosspoint business park. It is expected approximately 600 workers will be retained by M&T. An additional 100 workers will be offered local positions within Bank of America.

An employee told 2 On Your Side that staff learned about the move during a meeting on Monday morning.

"It was a tough day but they all took it very well,' said Bank of America Senior Vice President Carrie Ehinger.

The Getzville office helps rework mortgages for customers facing foreclosure, but business has been dropping as the housing market continues to recover. Bank of America decided it will stop operations there at the end of May.

"That's just terrible because we've been seeing such positive uptick with regards to our economy lately," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said. "To have 500 additional individuals lose their jobs and go on unemployment is not a good thing for this region."

Poloncarz said the county is willing to help retrain any workers who cannot find jobs. Bank of America has promised to help them search.
EHINGER: We're hoping that we see a large number -- that they all find a position one way or the other locally.
REPORTER: Will there be some sort of severance for those who aren't able to find something?
EHINGER: Yes. There is absolutely a severance the bank offers if they're not able to.

The severance that will include extended pay and benefits.

M&T will begin interviewing the workers in the next few weeks to determine which ones it will hire. The Bank of America office in Getzville has been receiving tax breaks from the Amherst IDA for the last 14 years. We're told those incentives will remain in place for M&T Bank.